Living in a vintage home filled with books, food, love, laughter, transformation and life. Sharing what I learn and some adventures along the way.

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Saturday, March 3, 2012

My meal plan go tos

I love to cook- most days. Some days, I'm not into it. Lately, I'm having more of those not into it. It could be because I'm super busy with work and just want to spend time with my lil guy. I don't know. I'm just low on energy lately and that may play a role in it as well.

Anyway, on those weeks/days when I'm not so into it, I turn to a favorite thing- crock pot chicken. Yep, a whole fryer chicken that I simply place into the crock pot and let cook for 9-10 hours. It's simple and easy. All you do is get the chicken, remove the innards and neck, rinse, place in crock pot and put a lil water in (if you like- otherwise, spray the pan and you get more of a roasted chicken according to things I've read). Be sure to turn it on and allow a lot of time to cook.

Once this chicken is done, I simply take all the bones out- which they usually the meat falls off the bones with no problems and serve with whatever. Then, after dinner, I take what is remaining and divy it up into freezer bags. I can freeze it or save if in the fridge for the rest of the week. By the way of meal plans, here's what it looks like:

Day 1: Crockpot chicken with sides
Day 2: Chicken enchiladas (boy do I have a go to recipe for you guys for these. It's the only one I use- time consuming if you let it, but doing it this way is easier and less so).
Day 3: chicken tortilla soup
Day 4: left overs- there is sure to be some!

Usually, it lasts 3 days and we have left overs on those days. Now, if you have a larger family, this may not work as well, but you may be able to get 2 days of recipes out of it especially if you use it in chicken spaghetti or soups.

Now, I could go buy a rotisserie chicken which may be a little cheaper in perspective, but it doesn't always have as much meat on it and I don't always want to have the rotisserie flavor in my chicken recipes. I've actually had a few that were dried out. Plus, it requires another trip to the store. I confess, I'm lazy.

Pork roast lends itself to similar set ups.
Day 1: put in crock pot for shredded pork sandwiches. I use Pioneer Woman's recipe because it's versatile instead of just bbq.
Day 2: Pork tacos or pork with rice
Day 3: Use in soups
Day 4: left overs.

These are the easiest meal plans I make. Simple, use up what I have in the house and not too time consuming. On a night when you don't want to cook but want a decent meal, this is an easy go to (okay, aside from breakfast for dinner (brinner as I like to call it)).

I make sure to stock up when I see both the fryer chickens and the pork roasts on sale or BOGO. Definitely worth buying and tossing into the freezer for later use. By the way, my confession, I do this set up at least once a month.

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About Me

Working mom to a toddler, wife to a fantastic husband. I like to dabble in many things, sewing, cooking, crocheting, crafting, couponing, thrifty shopping, the list goes on. Just love living and what God shows me along the way even though it isn't easy at times!